Christopher Toma was 21 years old when he was formally introduced to the idea of investments and the stock market.
Then a finance major at the University of Tampa, Toma's professors broke down the investment in a university education by how much graduates would earn versus non-college graduates. When Toma told his then 14-year-old younger brother about the class, he had his light bulb moment.
"I just remember sitting in the class and said, 'I wish I learned this when I was your age,'" Toma said. "If I had learned all that when I was 14 — when I started working — I would be in a much better place financially now."
The brothers began joking about stocks and their similar sounding name to socks; after piecing that together, and the successful "Shark Tank" investment in Bombas socks, Toma's company was born in July 2020.
The Sock Exchange sells socks that are linked to a real, publicly-traded company. The price of the sock is linked to the percentage change in the stock, and Toma hopes each time someone wears the socks, they think of their corresponding stock.
"If we can turn it into an experience and have a tangible takeaway, then every time you say, 'I can look at the socks and should check my portfolio,'" he said.
The website has extensive resources to further educate users about stocks and global investments, from games to a glossary and current news.
Toma is also in the process of creating his own digital game, which will further allow users to gamify stocks. After first trying to break into schools and re-evaluating when the schools turned him down, Toma has pivoted to focus on organizations like the Boys and Girls Club.
"We’re trying to show kids [stocks are] not that scary through the game," Toma said. "Through the website, it's showing that you're not paying a stockbroker $100,000 to make money — that's not the world we live in anymore."
The company is entirely bootstrapped and Toma is its sole employee. He is open to working with angel investors, he said, or partners to further help scale the business and spread financial literacy.
"We want to be focused on individuality and helping them focus on the financial journey," he said. "This is for everyone — whether you want to be an artist or doctor or athlete, personal finance is super important."
